Melco Crown to de-list from Hong Kong stock exchange

Citing reasons of cost and utility, Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment is planning to delist its shares from the Hong Kong stock exchange where it experienced a 35% pummeling in 2014 while the benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 1.3 percent. Trading volume has been low and the company has not raised significant capital from the exchange since listing there in 2011.

Daily Melco trades averaged less than $350,000 in Hong Kong as opposed to nearly $100 million daily in the US Nasdaq Stock Market for the last year.

The delisting move is subject to shareholder approval.

Melco Crown Entertainment will continue to list on the Nasdaq. The company is a joint venture between Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho and James Packer, son of the late Australian gambling and media mogul Kerry Packer. Melco Crown has a market cap of nearly US$14 billion and owns the City of Dreams resort complex in Macau.

A slowdown in the Chinese mainland economy as well as anti-corruption measures by Chinese President Xi Jinping have resulted in the worst year on record for Macau casino revenues. Roughly $73 billion in market value was erased from the six casino concessions in 2014.